Chapter 155 - Insider Reveal
"You prepare to infiltrate the ones who put you to this task, I will get our viewers ready"
YuJu wasted no time, having the fake spy leave the mansion toward the person who set her up while he vanished from sight
At least that's what he did in front of the maids and Ellis, soon as the spy left however he ordered her to stay still, standing at the gate with no further orders while he rushed up the floors with darting eyes
On the way he passed by the checkpoint, making a small stop to see if anything was abnormal before continuing further up
Stepping onto the seventh floor where many beasts fighting for territories resided his eyes kept moving about, trying to spot any clue of his target
'They should be hurrying over anytime now'
He might have said that one merely needed to make the spy themselves and need not any complicated strategies but that was just show talk, something to lower the guard of whoever was watching
'The should be prioritizing informing their hidden piece of the double spy than conveying the information to the leaders'
Confident in his deduction he waited near the entrance of the sixth floor, knowing the enemy would have to cross it to deliver the information, the way these floors worked is that the higher you went the less your energy could pass through floors, sending messages from the fifth floor to the sixth might be possible but the opposite was a hard task, the hard reconnaissance was one of the reasons Genus Insania chose these three isolated floors and would be the reason for their downfall this time
Sure enough his wait did pay off as he spotted a faint energy signal under the earth, traveling with causation not to alert Latvia's hidden drones it knew to be watching the place
'Underground? Would have been annoying if I was trying to hide my actions from Aminta'
Thankfully she and the one keeping watch for her were both privy to what was about to go down so he had no reason to take a silent approach, taking out a bunch of knives and jumping at the nearby wall
He ran up, stabbing the wall with knives to make footholds so that he could travel further up until he reached an adequate highest, that's when he jumped up with even more knives than before
With swift throws the knives were launched in an orderly succession, one lodged into the path of the underground creature while the others got centered on its hilt, digging it deeper into the earth with each new addition creating a seemingly long blade made of many knives stacked on top of each other with the final touch being him stepping on the last with all his might, plunging it deeper before the creature could take notice of any abnormality
There was little resistance as the leading blade impaled it to death, a silent and anticlimactic death, much unlike the fascinating method of attack
Right then YuJu felt many gazes linger around before locking onto him as he undid the stealth, the knives could no longer be hidden with Empty Strike having lost effect so one might as well greet the viewer
Waving to the drones in a friendly manner he pointed under him to convey that he was killing something before he disappeared, vanishing from sight as he left the clean up for the confused Latvia
Strolling back past the unassuming checkpoint he reached his mansion, making a quick visit to retrieve something from the inside and going back out just in time to see a drone lingering around the gate, his fake spy eyeing it with concealed wariness
"Make way for the hidden entrance, connect Varbrand via drones and do not come, we need to keep this under wraps"
Exposing himself he informed the drone, an answer didn't come right away, perhaps Latvia was taking the opinion of Verbrand and Aminta, or dashing out her own insecurities about leaving him alone with the commander, in the end however the drone made a nodding motion and lead the two toward the emergency exit leading into the meeting hall
"It's a pleasure to be back"
He greeted the cold faced Aminta who didn't seem as enthusiastic about the reunion as he was
"Get straight to it"
Tired of his slow build up when revealing things to them she ordered, much to his disappointment
"Aw, here I had put great effort into my grand reveal, yet you deny me the joy of presenting it"
He chuckled, not really bothered by the bored look he was receiving, ah how the tables turn, wasn't he the one always on his tiptoes around her?
"I won't waste much of your time, come here you two"
He motioned for the double spy but the drone followed as well thinking he meant it as well since there was only one maid
"I meant them"
He clarified, confusing Aminta, Latvia, and the watching Verbrand
"Split"
The next step needed the main body of the maid anyway so he had the two separate, standing next to each other as one walking empty husk of skin and one undead shadow
"Wear these shackles"
He presented the maid with the two bracers he retrieved from the mansion, his items having been delivered while he was out
Upon wearing them the faint undead aura of the maid was eliminated, her shadowy body starting to feel heavy as if all power was sapped from it
"Now plant a surveillance seed in her"
He spoke to Latvia's drone hovering about watching the two creatures with great confusion
"Care to unravel your plan, my friend? I believe we all need an explanation after your last promise"
A voice came through the drone which didn't belong to anyone he knew, but the style of speech was more than enough to tell him it was Verbrand that was speaking
"Seeing is believing old friend, just watch, I assure you it's worthwhile"
It took a bit of everyone's patience to endure not pressing him on the matter, they knew all too well how going along with him always sent them in loops, still they would try to see things through to the end
Latvia was quick to plant a seed into the maid's body, the seed took roots and spread through the barely materialized body with ease, at the same time it gained a dark green hue, much like the maid's own color
"Zip up"
He had the parasite cover the body again, then wear the clothes and eyepatch making the two look normal again
"Now lead it to the person who set you as a spy in my house, as for you, just refer to them as general, the purpose of your visit being to inform them of my recovery and make sure to put in a moderate amount of fear in your description, I'm sure you know your way around words"
"Worry not Master, I will, as humans say, pull the wool over their heads"
The maid spoke with the same voice as before, it was however the parasite speaking, it would be in charge other than when the maid was leading it to the person's residence
Thus without further ado the drone led this weird double spy out, sneaking it past any guarding eyes until the maid took lead, using the secret passages she knew of to sneak into the general's residence
All she did was being watched through her own eyes, or eye to be precise, with the use of the surveillance seed planted inside feeding images into the screens in front of the four
"These tunnels, when were they dug?"
Latvia spoke with unbelieving displeasure, just what did they take her as to dig such things right under her watch
"Probably when you built the mansion for me, must be specifically made to have a spy deliver things and information through"
YuJu replied, he himself not knowing of their existence warranting his guess, the Genus Insania wouldn't make such bold moves without anything major to accomplish, in this case it was probably more than just spying
The tunnels led them right toward a dead end, or so it seemed until the maid traced a symbol on the walls activating the hidden runes to grant passage
What lay beyond was a brightly lit hall illuminating a messy interior of blood and bones as well as two hunched back figures eating their fresh prey
"Hmm? You came? What you here for? Your visit isn't on schedule"
One asked, whilst turning to face her with a bloody maw, one belonging to a mole like creature, its appearance making the four watching think it was the one who dug up the tunnel
"I'm here to report something unusual, the blackguard leader has exited his secluded recovery and bears something strange"
"? Weno, ya hear? Go get the general, he out to hear this"
"Meh, it can wait"
Replied the rat like companion of his only to be smacked by the mole's long nails
"Go!"
"Alright alright stop nagging, sheesh"
The rat went ahead to call the general, taking quite a bit in his venture, this left them to watch the mole return to eating, four of the most important figures of Hortus forced to witness this mole's unpleasant table manners, why it would have chocked to death if it knew
Thankfully it wasn't that long of a wait, soon there were footsteps, only one set of them however making them think something was wrong, that is until two figures emerged, one being the rat while the other, taking silent steps with its nimble body, sauntered toward the maid
"What news do you bear"
With a dismissive attitude the huge feline asked, putting a surprised expression on all those watching, be it the usually impassive commander, the two generals, and even YuJu
'Another plan in the dumps?'
That was one too many changes